1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) having one or more spacers. More particularly, it relates to an OLED having spacers having dimensions sufficient to prevent organic material intended for a pixel region from leaking or invading into other pixel regions during deposition of the organic material. In addition, the present disclosure may relate to an OLED having spacers that provide an improved mounting structure for a mask used during fabrication of the OLED.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) is a device that includes an organic emission layer (organic EML), which is interposed between an anode and a cathode. When a voltage is applied across the anode and cathode, electrons and holes are injected into the organic EML and recombine to produce excitons. These excitons eventually transition from an excited state to a ground state and light is emitted from the EML as a result. This enables an OLED to operate without the need of an external light source. Accordingly, OLEDs can be fabricated into displays that are lighter and/or thinner than previous technologies, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
During fabrication of an OLED display, the matrix of pixels for the display is deposited using a fine metal mask. The mask defines the region of the pixel in which the organic EML is deposited. In order to prevent impingement of the metal mask onto the underlying substrate, spacers are usually provided as a support structure for the fine metal mask. The spacers, however, tend to be sparsely spaced among the pixels and tend to have a relatively small area.
Unfortunately, even with the use of the fine metal mask, material for the organic EML of one pixel can invade into the regions of other pixels. This may occur, for example, due to a deposition shadow during the deposition of the organic EML. In addition, conventional spacers typically provide a limited support structure and it can be difficult to mount the fine metal mask on conventional spacers. Fine metal masks often get caught or snagged by the spacer during mounting or transport of the mask.